


Wheatley's Lament - Portal 2 Post Space Fanfic

by Lambine



Category: Portal (Video Game)
Genre: Gen, IN SPACE!, Post-Canon, Post-Portal 2, Rick is annoying you cant tell me otherwise, Space core is just a little guy, Wheatley POV, different POVs, ongoing
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-06-01
Updated: 2020-12-20
Packaged: 2021-03-03 02:47:09
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 10
Words: 7,362
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24487681
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Lambine/pseuds/Lambine
Summary: This is a Post Portal 2 fanfiction set after the events of the end of the game, Wheatley must learn to overcome his fears while also being able to reconcile and make new friends..
Relationships: Adventure Core & Wheatley, Chell/Wheatley (Portal), Space Core & Wheatley
Comments: 2
Kudos: 40





	1. The Space dilemma.

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Wheatley has a needed discussion with Space core.

“Space."   
  
  
  
The plane was vastly empty, Wheatley took notice of space cores endless expression of happiness as he slowly moved in orbit. 

  
  
"Yeah I get it-" Wheatley said passive aggressively. "Space, Black holes, whatever they are. Them twinkly things. 

  
  
There was a long pause, as if the other core was trying to process what Wheatley said, 

  
  
"STARS, HHAHAHHA _YEAH!.._ " 

  
  
He...broke into a childish euphoria again. 

  
  
  
"Yeah stars! Just the word! _Bloody_ huge gas balls from what I've heard..." 

  


  
Silence. 

  
  
"Stars ..hehe.." 

  
  
The yellow one mumbled to himself about space gibberish again, in a language Wheatley thought _only the core himself_ could understand. 

  
  
_But Wheatley felt up for conversation._

  


  
"I know this is absolute _useless_ , _nonsense_ , but apparently humans do this thing called, _"Wishing"_ where they hope that something good happens from looking at a big flaming ball in the sky- " 

  
  
  
He thought about _her._ The woman who held him in her arms, she was _determined_ , she never gave up.The spring in her step. He wondered just for a second, if _maybe_ she wished too. 

  
  
  
"Amazing it is, do you have a wish? Just asking, you're not supposed to say them or some malarkey, but everyone wants something I suppose... even you _‘Space Monkey’_..." 

  
  
"I want to go home..." 

  
  
The blue ones cracked optic widened.   


  
"I'm sorry... err what are you-"   


  
"I miss Earth, Earth...wanna go Earth."   
  
  


  
If Wheatley had hands right now or by some magic grew them, at this very second, he would use them. And cover his mouth in disbelief, Instead, his handles twitched spontaneously from how serious the not-so-serious-space robot sounded. 

  
  
"What are you bloo-" 

  
  
"Space... Space I'm in space"   


  
Wheatley's _metaphorical heart_ shattered then... it reminded him of when he punched _her_ and... the horrible nasty woman that... saved her... into that pit, the glass shards going everywhere like a firework, as a new _itch_ fired through his wiring. 

  
  
  
Wheatley _sighed._


	2. Animals.

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Wheatley thinks about Animals in space to keep him sane.

Animals, fuzzy things or non-fuzzy things, things like those terrifying creatures; like birds... Wheatley didn't particularly like birds, and he had his reasons. 

They were flappy, extremely quick and they pecked, _pecked a lot_. No matter how hard Wheatley constantly tried to shoo the avian’s off, they just wouldn't listen to him, maybe because of the fact he was a spherical robot with handles and a blue optic, he had no arms or legs to even attempt to make the winged hell spawns budge. 

And it would always result in endless screaming from his side. 

And so, The Core didn't really like animals, since to a small portable robot that needs to be held or put on his management rail, some sort of thing getting its way into Aperture and doing whatever with him struck him with fear. 

Of course, now he wasn't in _Aperture._ But he pushed the thought to the back of his _‘head’,_ that one place to revisit for him was overflown with bad memories, too many memories to count on Wheatley’s metaphorical hands. 

He brought himself back to the thought of the animals again, thinking of a ‘happy place’ something that would give him a limited amount of peace in the city of thoughts inside him, each thing he came up with was like an individual human, a road, a sidewalk a car. It was all bustling the atmosphere filled rich with hundreds of thousands of smells, sights, and feelings that overwhelmed the small robot, made him act irrationally and always choose the wrong thing. 

_It was what he was programmed to do._

That feeling of worthlessness that buried inside him at all times, I _am doing something right? What is going on?_ what _choice should I choose? Is that okay- No- alright no it’s fine it’s fine-_ He constantly battled against it. _‘Designed to be a moron’ she_ told him. But he felt like he was something better. Designed to be more what she led on to. 

And even so _tiny little Wheatley_ still couldn’t shake the feeling that she was right, _he was_ a _moron_ ,he was perfect the way he was ,messing everything up, being power hungry and monstrous was exactly how he was supposed to act. _She was right_. 

“ _Oh...of_ course I’m thinking about it again- you would think with all these little thoughts in my little head I would think about something else, maybe you know ‘ _What’s the weather like down there?’_  
‘What color are them little buzzy bullets again?’ Oh I- I’ve got a good one here!” 

He chuckled. 

“‘What does _food_ taste like? Because humans sure do love putting it into their face holes like that!’”

“But no.” 

“All I do is think about it all the time, Look at me! Stupid insignificant little Wheatley Core -that went bloody _crazy_ and messed everything up! “ 

“What’s he going to do next? Oh yeah go to BLIMMIN’ S-WORD AND LISTEN TO THE STUPID WORD BEING REPEATED BY SOME _INSANE_ \- “ 

“Space- “ 

  
... 

  
  


The Space Core was clearly cheered up by that... 

  


“YES, THATS THE WORD WELL DONE- AND GUESS WHAT? _WERE LEFT_ _HERE_ TO ROT IN THE COLD WITH NOBODY BUT _US_ ” 

Even if he didn’t have lungs, he felt like he needed to breathe, like all the oxygen, if there was oxygen in space; came out of him and the pressure made his chest burn. 

  
  


… 

Wheatley was supposed to thinking about Animals and he couldn’t _even_ do that...

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Poor Wheatley, shouldn't of snapped on Space like that...


	3. Wheatley's Rules.

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Wheatley makes a list of rules to do in space, But ends up with a pleasant surprise.

Wheatley's Space Rules.   
  
1: Do not under any circumstances mention the S word, _Space_ \- It'll make him go _crazy_ just ignore his babbles unless he actually tries to talk again like the last time.   
  
2: Don't think about the bad place, it just makes everything worse and you'll feel like rubbish again _DON'T_ do it.   
  
3: Just you know what Just don't think- wait...wait no scratch that just don't think about bad things, yeah bad things in general ,y _ou know like a sane person would? Anyone would be able to do that. So just do it, use your brain... or whatever you have, tin can?_ \- No that doesn't seem right.   
  
4: Don't float too far, it's usually hard to with handles and everything, but now that I think about It, I'm _constantly moving_ \- so don't disappear, as long as that annoying little idiot is there it's okay it's safe.   
  
5: Erm...- ran out of ideas right about now I mean I'm in space- No _Your_ Not _I_ -this is a list. A list Wheatley. Not a life story stop rambling. Ugh I give up...  
  
  
  
Wheatley floated around throughout the atmosphere with no sense of direction. He couldn't _even_ write a bloody list, couldn't _even_ think about Animals. And he couldn't _even_ talk to the Core about five feet away from him.   
  
  
  
What could he even do? He'd ran out of ideas about a few months ago, according to his 'Math's' he'd been doing rolly pollies in space for around 6 months now, enough to turn any kid into an _emotional rollycoaster_ of exhaustion.   
  
  
In fact, Wheatley didn't think a human could roll around on a floor like a drowned fish for that long, so at least he got points for that.   


  


  
"Space- ahaha! Space I LOVEE SPACE!" 

  
  
_There he goes again._  
  


  
"Look Mate I really do get it, but it's been months, _MONTHS_ since we've been here and in the nicest way possible, I'd really appreciate it if you'd shut up for once-"   
  
  
Even though Wheatley was halfheartedly lying to the Cores face being that; He didn't know anything about Space, he didn't care and he didn't mean it in the nicest way possible...

But He couldn't help but try to at least be polite for once, after all the screaming, his terrible accent impressions in means to get him to understand, which led to him mimicking the Core... _Only made it worse._  


  
  
-And the countless other times the Core said the word 'Space' or something along the lines with Wheatley's always futile attempts to make him just stop for once. 

  
  
  
  
"S-Spa-... S-Shut up?"   


  


  
_For once._   
  


It hit him like a slap to the face, or a bucket of cold water chucked right onto him, or both at the same time. 

  
  
  
"Y-y- _yo_ -" He couldn't even get out his words, like there was something jammed in his mechanisms that prevented him from working, _maybe a space bug? Are bugs even in space?_ After a good long second, he finally managed to spit it out. 

  
  
"You- You said something _not_ about Space! I mean you did that one time but that mentioned Earth, but you actually said something! _Albeit_ it was shut up- But that's a start hey?" 

“Sp-Spaceee! Hello space!... oo-oohh! You like space? You like _space_??...” 

The ‘Space-Monkey' inched closer to Wheatley, his tiny yellow optic glowing brighter. 

_Is... Is he talking to me? It he actually talking to me?_

“I-I mean I- guess I like spa-” 

“SPAAACEEEEEEEEEEEE!!!-” 

“Yes... S _wo_ \- Space... But I -You know... prefer to see it from earth...in fact never actually seen it from earth, never been to the surface either, well I guess I am now that I’m suspended up in space- but you get what I mean...” 

  
  


“Babababa...! _WEEEEEEEE!!!_ You like space!! Bababbaba!! You- you, you LIKE Space!!!” 

_“Guess I do Love, Guess I do...”_

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> ( A rolly pollie is a thing I used to do as a kid, where you use your head and roll on the floor, usually on a yoga matt or carpet)


	4. The silence of a conversation.

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Space Core hasn't talked in a while and Wheatley is bored.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Wanted to try something new to in this chapter (note this is edited for the dialogue to be better and more Wheatley like)

It Had been about 2 days since the Space Core actually talked to Wheatley.Or so Wheatley thought, the sense of time in space was much harder to understand than in the Relaxation Centre, even if the days blurred to the point, he wasn’t sure if he was in a different decade, Space was much harder to understand. Since they were basically orbiting the moon, even if it was _very slowly,_ he could still see it was night, I mean the earth practically turned black in the moons shadow, he just didn’t care that much to notice.

But there was a thing he cared about- 

Space core... 

I mean, _He didn’t care much._ But it’s hard to not care when someone who doesn’t shut up about Space for 10 seconds, suddenly shuts up for 2 days. _Really hard._

The blue-eyed Core didn’t know him well in all the 6 or so months they’d been together, and he didn’t know him well when they weren’t. The first time they met was when that stupid voice said. **[** **WARNING CORE CORRUPTION AT 50 PERCENT]**.And all he could hear was endless rambling about Space, Hot Woman, and ‘Facts’, So it may have been a bad impression altogether. 

But ever since he said his first actual words, The Core was silent. Which was _unnatural_ , at any given moment Space would mention… _Well Space_ , anything and everything about it. It would drive Wheatley mad, but if he was being honest _he’d prefer it._ Not because it was actually entertaining to listen to the hyperactive whirs of a space-obsessed-robot every minute without end. 

_It was because Wheatley was lonely._

He didn’t like to admit it bit it was the awful truth, _he was lonely._ Ever since he left the bad place with the bad things that happened there, he could constantly feel it tearing at him ,he tried so desperately to forget ,he wanted is erased from his memory, he didn’t want a friend, just someone to talk to and the options were really _dry_ … 

_Wheatley_ _pull yourself together, not_ _literally of course ,_ _that would be grim._ _Can’t you just talk to him? I mean it’s not h_ _ard_ _just go up and say. "Hello_ _! My_ _names Wheatley,_ _w_ _hat’s yours?”_ _Or something more like_ _-_ _“I’m Wheatley, sorry we haven’t properly met being that I was in the middle of- “ NO that’s not_ _it_ _._ _Just_ _… Just say something...nothing major, nothing too serious._ Just a simple hello. 

“Hello! Umm just wondering if you’re okay? Been rather _quiet_ lately so you know… just popping in to see if your alright- in case you aren’t...My names Wheatley by the way..” 

_Okay off to a good start you didn’t babble on, now just wait. Play the waiting game._

… 

  
  
  


“W-Wheatley??.. Wheatley! Oooo… Wheatley in space…I love space... SPAAAACEEE” 

_Don’t panic… he said your name, so he actually understands what you say_ _somewhat..._ _maybe he ignores it because he’s that ignorant,_ _or can only understand_ _space talk..._ _don’t know..._ _but the_ _good thing is he said your name!_ _Finally,_ _some progress…_

… 

  
  


“Yes! Yes Wheatley! That’s my name you got it good job lad! So err, do you have a name? Like the things people call you? Like I don’t know Jerry? Or uhh.. Bob, Oscar perhaps? Possibilities are endless really..”

The Core went silent for a few minutes, staring at Wheatley, his small yellow eye flickering like a start up screen. 

  
“Name!! Uh- uh.... S-spa- S-pa... gah! Don't know... _Don’t know_ ” 

… 

“Oh, you don’t know perfectly fine honestly! how about you come up with one if you want... as I said possibilities are endless... so just come up with one? How about that?” 

  
  


… 

“Oh! Oh! Galaxies... Moon! .. Lunar cycle! N-no AH... O-...Oscar?... “ 

… 

_Okay so he picked a name you chose, Oscar kind of fits him to be honest- not really, wouldn’t know but._ _Not that bad at all... Has a ring to it._

  
  


_Suppose his name is Oscar then._

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Oscar? what do you think of the name, he's actually named off someone I know who I know who likes galaxies a lot and star wars, kind of fitting huh?


	5. The Jungle of Space. (Part 1)

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The Jungle of space is vast and empty. What if something shows up you don't expect?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This is quiet a long chapter so I'm making a part 2 soon!

In the vast jungle of Space, anything.. could come at you... 

Nun-chuck-wielding-astronauts. 

... 

Space cowboys. 

... 

Firemen with katanas. 

... 

_Anything..._

Luckily, he was as ready as ever always keeping a close eye on the stars, planets, and galaxies surrounding him. I mean what if something jumped up out of nowhere and attacked him? _No not a chance._ No _fool_ would ever mess with Rick! He was the adventure core of course! and he had tricks up his _very beautifully crafted handles_ \- tricks indeed... 

_“YOU HEAR ME GALAXY! NOTHINGS COMIN’ AT ME! I’M RICK BABY! ADVENTURES RUNNIN THROUGH MY VEINS! I WILL NOT STAND THESE TRICKS!”_

But the galaxy had tricks too... _sneaky mother nature_ \- and her trick unfortunately was... _nothing_... He hoped something would come out to be defeated by him , maybe find a hot girl. He would wait till the end of time... something had to come... Rick just didn’t know _when_ or _how_. 

Maybe he shouldn’t have shouted into the void about how nothings coming at him, bad luck. Now he’s ruined his chances of an extraordinary space-duel. 

Rick began to do Space summersaults, _extremely awesome and cool summersaults that would make any Lady give to their knees._ He tried ignore his other “companions ” that where a bit away from him, the weird blue one that’s name began with a W,...William? Walter?... _Eh who cares?_ And the freaky orange one that likes space too much for comfort. 

-They didn’t matter anyways... Rick had _very_ important business to do...

...

  
  


“Did you hear something? Or was that just me? No, probably just me must be a _‘Space hallucination’_ or some sorts-” 

Wheatley would ramble to Oscar a lot now, just little things. Since they were now formally introduced, it was a bit reassuring to Wheatley to know that he could actually talk for once without getting interrupted. It actually made Wheatley realize something, about 3 months into them being sucked into a portal to Space. Space core didn’t talk as much, either Wheatley as too absorbed in his bizarre stories, or the Core actually stopped wanting to interact. 

Maybe he just wanted someone to talk to? And when Wheatley ignored him, he finally shut up. At least they had low level conversations now, He was getting better at small talk even with the “SPACE!” and “Bababab!”’s awkwardly put in at times. 

“No- not Space... Heard... Heard the voice” His little optic almost smiling at Wheatley as he spun around in a space obsessed trance. 

“Oh, you did. Must’ve not been me then! Thank God... I'm not going _loopy_ just yet-” 

_The blue optic twitched. The force of the portal pulling him in, he could see it now. A haze of a memory. One Core, full force being teared from 'his' body, the green luminate optic with a black square widening as the small body was plunged into the atmosphere, a cut off scream as he was detached,One more voice finally gone from Wheatley's head._

Someone else was with them, he’d heard him before, tried to ignore it, tried to find his ‘ _Mind palace_ ’. But he was there. And it was that really, _really_ annoying one. I mean Wheatley always _knew_ he was there of course but he’d rather listen to Oscar than Mr.-Adventure-loving-’smooth'-talking-’tough'-guy. 

_At least Wheatley admitted he had a soft side, but no the green_ bastard _was a hypocrite- I mean he even fell in the portal first, who’s the tough guy now_ huh _?_

His thoughts where interrupted with the robotic high-pitched screams of his mutual. 

“SPACE COPS- _SPACE COPS!!_ NO... DON’T WANNA GO TO SPACE JAIL... _TOO YOUNG_ \- TOO YOUNG FOR SPACE INMATES!!” 

What sounded like blabbering nonsense he would regularly spew only made sense when Wheatley seen what he was blabbering at... across from where they were orbiting, a small grey circular figure approached them... It looked like a-…. Asteroid? 

“GAH! ASTEROID! ASTEROID! - UP AHEAD 10 O’ CLOCK, THIS IS IT, THIS IS THE END... I CAN’T LOOK... _CAN'T BARE IT_.-” 

Wheatley closed his eye shut bracing himself for something to happen, Oscar still murmuring about space cops. 

...

About a minute passed… 

...

About 5 minutes passed… 

Wheatley slowly opened his optic moving it around, he couldn’t sense the heat or anything from the burning of an asteroid, at least he thought they burned because they where always red or something. The foreign object was closer he could barely make out two obstructions on the spherical body, he focused harder on the figure.

_Oh, forgot I had the ability to zoom, comes in handy honestly._

...

There was an eye looking back at him, _burning_ onto him, the emerald eye came closer, it was so close he didn’t realize that too, in fact _so close you could see the display clearly and-_

“AGHHH! BLOODY HELL YOUR RIGHT NEXT TO ME! -” The 'weird blue core' squirmed, the light blue dot of an eye, shrinking in startlement. 

“Yeah, sure as _hell_ am partner! should’ve seen the look on you! You looked more scared than a damsel!” Rick let out a mused bellowing laugh, Space’s chirps joining in, creating a symphony of chuckles. 

“NOT FUNNY- LOOK I _GENUINELY_ THOUGHT YOU WHERE SOME SPACE ASTEROID COMING OVER TO CRUSH ME INTO LITTLE BITS! - WHY WOULD THAT BE FUNNY AT ALL??” Wheatley made an exaggerated sigh like he was out of breath; which just made the two cores giggle over his suffering even more. 

_Bloody masochist..._

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Finally Rick, wanted to add him for a bit honestly forgot he was in space so I had to add him in oops ..


	6. The Jungle Of Space (Part 2)

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Wheatley has a conversation with his acquaintances...

It had been really weird for Wheatley lately, aside from all the ‘ _Being banished to space for all eternity with a bunch of crazies_ 'malarkey.

It was fine with Oscar, well maybe a _bit_ challenging because of all his constant nagging on about Space, but eventually he started talking... _kind of_. I mean he would talk, but he couldn’t go for around a sentence or two without the usual childish repetition of his words, still he was getting much better at genuine conversation.

  
He would now replace things associated with ‘Space’ with words like “Wheatley”, “Oscar” and other things along the lines. He was _improving_ , and that was good, at least for Wheatley’s selfish needs.

  
The _invasive species of annoying_ on the other hand... was _much_ different...

  
Rick was quite literally a pest, even going so far to actually sound like one, _unintentionally of course_. But since the humiliating ‘asteroid’ incident, Wheatley didn’t _dare_ to speak of. He just showed up and asserted himself... The Adventure-know-It all had started a rivalry with. The oh-so-very-genius-Wheatley. It was _more like a competition to see who was the better man or well- Core..._ _but isn’t that still rivalry? Did I just do that to make that joke... oh-_

  
“-So there I was, at the _bottom_ of the ocean, thanks to the Italian Mafia. Rope against me so tight I could barely wriggle against that pesky little thing- and... _BAM_. There is was. A massive great white shark! Now you’re probably thinkin’ now, ‘Rick, how could you possibly get out? Even though you most definitely did, because you’re the _Adventure Core_... adventures in your _damned name_! Also, ‘you’re super tough n’ cool, and I wish all the ladies stuck to me like butter to bread... like they do to you’ _Eh?_ ”’

The small optic lens of Rick’s closing at one shutter, creating the allusion of a squint smirking eye.  
  


Wheatley did a mental long sigh after forgetting reality for a second. _Oh, Great another one of Rick’s stupid blimming stories, that are very, extremely real, and not fake at all!_

_How can a Core even survive under the water- is that ...what he even said?_

“-I’ll tell you what here fellas, then came there down, through the _depths_ , a US military submarine! With guns n’ everything, and _PEW_ shark into little piece, like a shark kebab. Reeling me in, they commended me for single handedly defeating half of the Italian Mafia; the best Core, _sorry boys_.”

  
“Got a purple heart, good old pres gave it to me himself, golden days those where...”

  
_The Adventure Core took a long reminiscent sigh.  
  
_

_..._

Ricks “ _True Stories_ ” where very much not adequate, they always ended with him getting some sort of award: like a girl, treasure or just some sort of trope in general. Today he was playing the role of some sort of war hero, ‘ _Defeating the mafia_ ’ or something. Yesterday he was a detective, solving a chain of similar murders across the states, the day before he was an archaeologist in Egypt, and before that he was a professional assassin, the list went _on and on and on-_ and too many on’s to count. 

The fact at hand was, they were all complete and _utter garbage_ , boring, lacked plot and where clearly fake, Oscar seemed to enjoy them slightly. But a Core can only take so much; Which is when he started humming and babbling at Rick when the fabrications got too long. 

“Not-… boring... really boring… add _space_ -“ Space’s criticism was pretty predictable but was somehow _cute_ , maybe cute wasn’t the right word to put Wheatley’s feelings, but he admired he tried to tell the all so mighty Adventure to shut up in a way. 

“ _Man alive_.. sorry.. -Have to agree with my good buddy, partner in crime Oscar over here. Pretty boring well- not pretty boring… extremely boring, could’ve knocked a herd of Lions down with that one- and I mean blood thirsty angry Lions.” Wheatley had to admit he felt smug after that comeback, he finally put the Cowboy Core back to the barn where he belonged. And all thanks to the simple boost of confidence.

“Oh, so you’re all buddy buddy now? I thought yesterday you said you don’t have friends- how bout’ that” 

The blue core could almost feel the smug energy radiating off him, bastard. He’d have to admit that that was an emphasis now. Of course, he wasn’t friends with Oscar, he didn’t have friends, he would never have a friend. _Never again..._

“Me and W-Wheatley… BUDDYS??!! BABAB!! Me and Wheatley IN SPACEE, BFFS SPACE…F- _FRIENDS_!!” Oscar practically screamed in joy, or whatever crazed emotion he was feeling in that space brain of his. The robotic voice cracked and chirped wildly. Wheatley was glad he didn’t have ears right then, because he was pretty sure he’d have a _massive headache by now_. But that still left a question,

Wheatley didn’t have friends he said it himself, he would never have a friend again. It didn’t matter to him how lonely he was, or how _desperate_ he was to talk to a person or just anything again, Wheatley would never have a friend. Maybe he was being selfish I mean of course he was, you have one bad experience and shut everybody off, but who cared? The ‘ _dampening sphere_ ’ didn’t so why should he?

“I... Okay that may have been an overstatement...” - _Just a teensy_ bit...” He felt like he had a frog stick in his throat, _whatever that meant_ , but his processor was finding it hard to get the words out. 

  
“I don’t have friends... I-I never will... Not again ... sorry mate... N-no your – Your great! It’s just... things... _Bad... Bad things..._ ” 

  
A sense of dread loomed over him; he obviously felt a _little guilty_. Oscars bright yellow optic dimmed- The Cores “Face” if you could call it that was excruciatingly hard to look at for Wheatley... He knew exactly what he did was wrong, he made a mistake. _That’s all you always don’t you? All you do is go and mess things up! Can’t even do a sodding thing right.. Just look at you.._

_Wheatley jolted at that moment, all his code of endless, idiotic, worthless thoughts created a tingling sensation, he felt overwhelmed a lot overwhelmed than most things that had happened in his poor unfortunate events of a life. He needed to get away from it all, and with that Wheatley kicked himself out of orbit with the others._

He just.

  
_Needed space…_


	7. The small glow of Yellow.

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> In Aperture science, there is many things, many memories, and mysteries.

**_Hmmmmm_ **   
  


  
There was a loud hum emanating throughout the room. The room being dim and illuminated with a pale-yellow light, the washed-out white walls, paint peeled at some corners.

  
  
On the side was a light brown metal cabinet place within the room, the rusted draws made it looked like it made maybe a bit _too much noise_.

  
the more he scanned around he could see a door close the cabinet with a window. The blinds on the other end where shut, creating horizontal grey bars in their place.

  
He could hear not only the noise from within the room but far away there was clunks and bangs from what sounded like an array of tools and work being done on _wherever he was_.  
  


  
In fact, he couldn’t move, it felt like a form of dissociation or maybe paralysis, he could see, he could hear. _But he could not move_. He was somehow not alarmed by it, he felt oddly calm. Like this is how _it was supposed to be_.

  
  
There was a hustle of noises coming closer ,which was not from inside the perimeter of the room. getting louder, Alert he stared at the door, unable to move his optic. Androgynous voices talked to each other, _but could not put together what they said_.

  
  
**_Click_ **

  
  
The door opened showcasing a cheerful Woman with rosy cheeks in a lab coat, with some _unknown logo_ printed on breast, she clumsily walked in holding a board, with what where assumed to be questions on it. Her blonde kinked hair was frizzy, She took slight notice of the robot, smiling lightly as she ran her hair through her fingers.

  
  
_“My name is Dr Kahn.”_   
  


  
The Doctor looked down at the small Core, grabbing an office chair, _awkwardly adjusting the seat_ to her length before continuing.

  
  
“Lord, these swivel chairs are utter useless, I don’t know how anyone even sits in these things.”

  
  
Propping herself up she sighed, adjusting her hair once again.

  
  
“As I said my name is Dr Kahn, I usually do the more biological science and such, the boys don’t let me have _too_ much fun though.”

...

  
Dr Kahn looked particularly annoyed sighing one more

“But _someone_ called in sick today _of course_ , so I’m going to be working with you, it's alright, I guess... I have some knowledge in programming.”

  
  
Her cheery smile resumed, leaning towards him she typed out something onto a computer out of his view.

  
  
“Okay- I just activated your program again, you might’ve been unable to move earlier... sorry for that but then again n _ot my fault- I didn’t touch you..._ ”  
  


  
Holding a nervous chuckle sitting back, the Doctor placed her clipboard in her grasp. Looking at the paper and reading through it, her head bobbing up and down as she _peered_... “Okay, personality core, I’m going to give you some questions. You must answer them to the best of your ability, understand?” Giving him another bright smile, she moved her askew glasses back into place. The Core felt exited to do the test ,a _wash of euphoria_ going over him, Dr Kahn’s pleasant appearance was welcoming, even if she was forced into doing the test, it felt natural.

“State your name please” She demanded politely.

“SRS, personality Core; The 53rd personality Core manufactured and programmed by Aperture Laboratories to aid in _National Space Research_ and _international space travel_.” The woman smiled again, nodded, and then took down a note with her pen.

"And what does SRS stand for?" Kicking her leg softly, she furrowed her brow, tapping the pen against her teeth, _very fidgety._

...

"Space Research Sphere" The Yellow Core said with an oomph in his voice, he felt confident in his knowledge, and as a bonus, didn’t want to impatient the Doctor.

“I’m going to call you _Space_ for now, it’s much easier.... _anyways_ \- I'm going to test your research Space, you understand?” Space flicked his handles as a sign that he was ready.

  
“Okay first question, how far is the Moon from Earth?” she looked at the note pad definitely.

“ _The Moon is a distance of 384,400 kilometers away from the Earth._ ”

Dr Kahn looked up and nodded, “And what is the Moon made out of?”

“ _The Moon surface is made out of Igneous rocks, and composed of mostly Oxygen, Silicon, Magnesium, Iron, Calcium and Aluminum_.”

“What is your favorite planet? _Mines Saturn_ , the rings look nice” The Woman looked down at the Core, smirking.

“I don’t have a favorite planet ,it is not answered in my programming” She sighed looking at him with a touch of boredom “You have all the information currently known to NASA we could get out hands on is in your database, the number of _terabytes you hold_ , you have a _simulated nervous system_ , and you can’t answer my question?”

_Somehow Space knew she was right._

“I’m afraid I still can’t answer that _Doctor_.”

A emotion kicked into the Cores wiring, he felt _bad?…_ bad he couldn’t respond to the Scientists question. He was programmed to answer all space questions, and couldn’t complete his own personal analysis on his data, it felt wrong…

“I am sorry.. you are right.” Space’s optic looked down in defeat. Dr Kahn perked up, inching closer to him she cupped her hands together, like telling a secret in a game of telephone.

“You don’t need to apologize Space Core, you’re an AI, your information, your programming can change, eventually you’ll find out your favorite planet, galaxy, it doesn’t take long.. you’ll know eventually.”

The Doctor resumed her last position, looking down and smiling a sincere smile, the Cores Optic glowing brighter, catching her face in the light, giving the Woman a gentle nod, he closed his optic, _feeling a sense of warmth._

_“I’ll… I’ll know eventually”. He hummed._


	8. A Confrontation.

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Wheatley talks to an old friend.

“I don’t have _friends_... I-I _never_ will-”

His words echoed throughout the room...

_There was a mused devilish chuckle._

“Oh, but you _did_ have a friend didn’t you, I shouldn’t say _friend_ , it obviously wasn't reciprocated.”

Wheatley struggled; he was back at the bad _place_... again, his optic moved feverishly around, but he dared not to look at... _that_ proper maniac...

“I....I THAT’S NOT TRUE... YOUR NOT REAL YOU’RE JUST IN MY HEAD, _YOU’RE FAKE ...BOLLOCKS_.”

His voice became shrill and spastic, the feeling of _pure despair_ loomed over him. The trapped Core couldn’t move, he was defenseless, just like the time the Woman he dared to speak of crushed him.

...

_and there she was..._

_“Oh, you really think I'm not real?”_ The robot cried out in a horrendous mock of empathy. “I may not be here, this may be a figment of your moronic imagination, but _I assure you_. _I’m Still alive.”_

Before he could look away, he glimpsed her. _GLaDOS_ forbiddingly stared back at him, the yellow merciless light glaring. _He flinched_. 

“And now _look at you,_ left to rot in space for the rest of your life” She paused. “I _would_ try and get you back. But you dying cold, and afraid... wondering if you’ll _ever_ be saved sounds like a _much better fate for you_.”

“This.. This doesn’t mean _anything_ … I- Everything you say is just me talking to _myself_..!” The little core yelped out.

“But your still scared are you not? _Amazing what science can do_ …” Wheatley could almost hear her grin of vengeance, _she was smug,_ just like Rick… _utter_ _bastard.._ he knew there was a way to take _her_ down.. _he just didn’t know how._

“I… There’s a way to take you down… I just know it!”. Wheatley called out, the cold echo of his words bouncing through the dark dingy room.

  
  


…

“Oh, some confidence now?” The Woman or shell of a Woman as Wheatley would of put it, _faulty_ , _unforgiving_ , nothing like what he knew of...”I have to admit, you thinking you’ll win, is… quite amusing”.

_Why did she have a right to say anything?_

_…_

_It was his mind. His programming, he had complete and utter control._

_He wasn’t some dispensable object, he was made. Made to feel, made to complete tasks, he was programmed._

_The scientists didn’t get rid of him, they could of ,all willy-nilly. But they didn’t._

“ _You, where designed to be a moron no matter what”_ GLaDOS growled out desperately.

“That means no matter what you say, what you come up with, you’ll always be what you where supposed to be doing, _making bad decisions until the end of time_.”

Wheatley laughed, it was bitter, full of pain. But a _triumphant laugh_ , _a sweet one_.

“So will you Love, _so will you…_ ”...He coughed out, feeling a warm sensation _overthrow_ his anxieties.

The overpowering robot stared down at him with disgust. Wheatley could only feel his pride though, his own mind was playing tricks on him, and yet he felt like he was doing something.

_Something good for once in his life, he was succeeding._

“What about the poor test subject. _Chell_. You don’t know if she’s dead by now do you?”

_He wasn’t giving up just yet._

_“Chell? .._ That woman dying, now _you’re_ talking crazy… she’s got bloody...blood of steel she does. Swear she can’t even die… I know right?” Wheatley chuckled amusingly. “And I know _you,_ I know what you did, too much of a hassle for you _dear_. You let her go.”

“And how do you know that?…” The optic of the Monster burned Into him.

“I don’t know… you just do.. have a feeling I suppose.. you just _know_ things sometimes.. maybe a bit too hard for you.. with all.. y’know- being a figment of my imagination”…

“But I know that woman more than anybody.. maybe even more than the _real_ you.. and I know she’s proper _scary.._ so.. lectures over now.. don’t need to tell me anymore not listening.”

  
  


The room somehow was getting brighter… _yes brighter..._ Wheatley thought.

“That still doesn’t defeat the object, _you_ are still going to die, _you will die out here,_ and _she_ will never know that you’re sorry.”

Even though the words still hurt him, clutched onto him, and still proved a point. _They didn’t matter._

“I can’t go back...I can’t go and fix everything, I know I can’t. Can’t go back to the _bad place_ , can’t go back and say ‘I’m sorry, sorry I’m a horrible Core…. _friend’._ I can’t bloody do it.”

“And you know maybe that’s for the best.. maybe if I did see her again.. maybe she would try to kill me.. or burn me.. or whatever to hurt me. Just like I did to her.”

“I mean I almost tried to kill her?… _what sort of a friend does tha_ t?… pretty crap friend then huh?…”

….

“All this _time.._ I’ve been thinking.. _I_ need to fix this.. but I can’t… I can’t go back.. not going to magically pop up to Earth and be like ‘Hello! I’m here now!’ As much as I want to.. doesn’t work like that not _rocket science_... So might make the most of it before -I don’t know.. power off.. _lights out”_

_“So you know what .._ oh-so-great-imagination _…?_ I’m going to do what’s right this time.. hope your happy took a lot.. _had to face that terrifying woman and-_ “

….

Wheatley looked around for a brief second, there was no endless rows of panels, gloomy ceiling. There was no darkness surrounding him.. _well there was_ , but… most importantly there was no GLaDOS. _It was back to normal now_.

Wheatley made a deep sigh, trying to _imitate an exhale_ , he giggled to himself a little in satisfaction. Maybe a bit too much, but he had to admit he was happy now. Like a cube was lifted off a button… or a turret being burned from a test, or any aperture based allegory. The simple truth was that.

… _Wheatley felt happy_.


	9. The projection of what’s to come.

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Deep in aperture... something is going to happen, something that will start a chain of events. Something that will alter what happens no matter what.

The cold unforgivable walls that once seeped with life laid stagnant, frozen in time. At one point in this world, the place buzzed with atmosphere. Aromas of the compassionate and curious, aimed to do bigger things in life, to achieve innovation. Once people who cared, where free and content… maybe some may have put the correct word as _happy_. But that died long ago… along with all the people,

GLaDOS looked proudly around for herself, Aperture was being rebuilt and broken down again everyday. The great speciality of a robot is nothing; feelings don’t get in the way. Just _facts._

That to her personally ,was the reason she survived for so long without incompetence, and that was their downfall, at least to her understanding; Of why those scientists died with their very last breaths coated in neurotoxins.

...

She didn’t understand why she _loathed_ so much. Why she hated _everything_ , why she sought out her vengeance in every human, and why she had the right to feel these things. She was created for the purpose to _keep the facility alive_ , and that’s what for all those years she had been doing.

Of course there was a _minor_ setback, that one very Woman, her determination was unsurpassed. _Chell_ was a riddance _she_ was a unstoppable force, and GLaDOS was happy that she was _gone_.

_At least she thought she was…_

A clank of a catwalk alerted her, the robot stared down facing down at the blue and orange bipedal robots respectively.

“ _Oh_ , you _two_ are back…”. The Woman greeted in a cold chill, “I hope you brought what I needed..”

The robots chirped in a agreement each fighting over each other to be in a non existent spotlight of hers. Atlas and P-Body which GLaDOS had nicknamed _“Blue”_ and _“Orange”_ , designed with the sole purpose to _test_ and nothing but _test,_ much more efficient than a _human_. They where of course less intelligent. But that was good, it meant that they had a form interdependence and strove for her acceptance; It also meant she didn’t have a _60 year time-bomb_ till they expired.

The ovular shaped robot looked up with her, a _glimmer_ in his optic, as he scrambled over to the platform, handing the corpse of a personality core to the floor almost like an _offering_ , the electrified corpse rolled over, some damage had clearly been done. The wired structure peering from under the chassis.

_“Brilliant.”_ She said with a smirk in her voice, her claw grabbing the sad appearance of the machine.

A small electrical wiring echoed throughout the chamber, as she moved her claw across. A prize in a _prize machine_ ready to be deposited. Gently plugging the Core down on a wall she waited...

**[POWER RECEIVED, INITIATING START UP…]**

Her test subjects scurried towards the site, as the lights dimmed, the woman’s eye burning in the dimly lit room. A image flashed on screen, then two, then three. It was all coming together so, amazing… so _perfect_

**[CORE NO LONGER OPTIMALLY FUNCTIONAL… BLACK BOX FOOTAGE RECEIVED, WOULD YOU LIKE TO REPLAY?]**

“Yes…” She said, something burning throughout her, a tingling sensation. She was merely just experiencing it again, but it made her feel so intense.

**[BLACK BOX FOOTAGE WILL COMMENCE..]**

**[IN THREE…]**

**[TWO]**

**[ONE]**

……

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry for the lack of updates, I made the start of this ages ago I just forgot to work on it again, anyways I don't usually write GLaDOS so this is one of the one times I've written her.


	10. Mathematic solutions require mathematical nonsense.

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Two scientists in Aperture science discuss issues.

_Space is amazing. Space is Great. Space is everything you could possibly love. You love Space. You love the Solar systems. Isn’t the big dipper cool? Isn’t Space cool? Aren’t there aliens in Space? What if you became a Space Pirate? Wouldn’t that be so cool!_

…

“What happened to it?” The man frowned slightly, pointing. The other man looked between them two and shrugged. “ _Nobody Knows.._ ”

The lights flashed a warm red. And the two men where up on alert, their flight and fight responses kicking in, the younger of the latter looked down, then up, then glanced his eyes back down once more.

“What are you thinking Lewis, I can tell you’re brewing something…” The older man said with a lack of tone….Staring down, at the same position, at the same thing.

“Do you… even like this job?” He said in a gasp, clearly awaiting a response, both the men looked at each other.

“ _It’s alright_ …” The older man said, his eyes focusing back to the object.

It was a dangerous job to do, _She was a dangerous thing._ She rained supreme over humans, constantly building a power dynamic that made _her_ the _top_ of the chain of being…

“I don’t understand Henry.. why do we keep turning it on anyways?!” Said the man named Lewis, he adjusted his tie, possibly in means to keep himself busy, “Didn’t Crazy-Doug say we’re gonna kill ourselves if we keep on doing it?…”

“We do it for _science_ Lewis..” He said clinically.

Lewis stared at him like he was crazy, or maybe he was the _crazy one-_ Either way he knew he was right, what they did.. what science created was so _brilliant_ , so _complex_ … It was frightening.

**[Cave Johnson here, you lab boys better get back to work doing whatever the hell your doing over there! Smashing buttons, making new AI. Hell! Do I care as long as your getting payed less than minimum wage for this damn stuff! Even go ahead and make a big flashy sign that tells Black Mesa that they can go and suck one for stealing our grant money!”]**

****

****

A loud bellowing cough was heard echoing throughout the now silence of the room… except for the cough.

**[This…has been a prerecorded message from _Cave Johnson…I’m telling you now, you better make one right now or you’ll be getting..… fired in a couple of days if you don’t..]_**

**[BEEP]**

“I-Well…what I meant is- I’m asking.. I’m asking why did we do _that.”_

The man stared at him dumbfounded until the the speakers finally halted the high pitched screeching.

Henry took a moment and looked at him. Having the same look _they all had_. Everyone in that part of the control group _knew_ … Their fear was all so recognisable, it was almost too obvious to everyone else. The worst part was _no one cared_. They made the centuries new big thing. _So why did it matter how…_

****

**[WARNING: REGULATOR CORE NEEDED FOR START UP SEQUENCE]**

The alarm came on, the older man scrunched his face up into a ball, which made Lewis look, “She’s coming on…” He man grunted in a deep breath.

“Yeah it’s probably going to kill us.” He said fixing his tie again.

“ _We’re_ making process…”

…

“It’s- It’s not good _enough_ …”

A woman raced into the room, anxiety painted all over her. Fixing her glasses she moved to stand up-right. “Dr Shepard… Dr Andrews..” She paused. “The Genetic and life-form Disk operating system should be on in a few minutes.. we need a core”

Henry Andrews smiled at her, his attempt was so fake anyone could see right through it, “Well why didn’t you just say so sweetheart we’ve got one right here..” He held the Core up, Lewis staring at the fellow scientist with a expression of distain.

The woman gave him a polite smile before Inspecting the Spherical robot.

_“My god…”_


End file.
